Chicago Recap: Garcia clutch in sealing top-three spot in season-long race
BOLINGBROOK, IL - LIV Golf Chicago turned out to be a brilliant week for Captain Sergio Garcia, as well as for his Fireballs GC, making them the team to watch at the LIV Golf Team Championship in Dallas.
At Bolingbrook Golf Club, which was playing extremely difficult with balls running like crazy on firmed up fairways and greens, the Spanish legend put up a masterclass of ball-striking and short game to finish tied 2nd at 8-under par total, three shy of eventual champion Jon Rahm of Legion XIII.
Garcia needed to finish ahead of Tyrrell Hatton to secure the third place in the season-long standings and get into the Top Three behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann, and he did it in style with rounds of 65 and 68 over the weekend after a sedate start of 69.
Hatton, who looked out of contention when he was 3-over par after 29 holes, turned on the heat as he made a hole-in-one and 10 birdies after that. However, the Englishman’s charge fell one shot short of Garcia.
Birdies by David Puig on his final hole and Eugenio Chacarra on his penultimate hole helped the team edge one shot ahead of Majesticks GC in third place at 12-under total. However, that did not do too much to their season-long standing as Fireballs stayed in sixth place, just 0.17 points behind the fifth placed Torque.
The finish means they will have to play a round on Friday of the Team Championship and will have the third pick of opponents after Smash and Torque.
On a personal note, Garcia was happy with his own effort.
“I fought hard and even though I didn’t feel as smooth as I've been feeling the last few weeks. I wasn’t quite there, mostly the first day, then I got better as the week went on,” said the 2017 Masters champion, who was bogey-free for the weekend.
“But it was a good fight. Obviously, I would love to get the W this week, and it would have been extra special. But Jon played great, and I probably needed to shoot six, seven-under to catch him and it's not that easy on this golf course.
“It’s great to finish in the Top Three. More than anything, just to finish as high as possible. It’s great against all these guys who are so good. And you never know, hopefully in the near future, there’s some qualification criteria with the majors that come into effect, finishing as high as possible for the season is important.”
Winners in Andalucia, Fireballs were second in back-to-back weeks in Singapore and Houston. But they fell slightly short of the more consistent Torque, even though Niemann’s team did not win a single title during the season.
Garcia said he would have liked to finish higher in the team championship in Chicago, just to get a first or second choice of opponent for the opening round in Dallas.
“We stayed at sixth, even though we finished third,” said Garcia.
“So, we get the third pick for next week when we would have loved to get the first or the second pick. But I’m proud of them, proud of the way they all fought throughout the year. Hopefully, we will have an amazing end to the season in Dallas.”
Abraham Ancer made a bogey on his final hole to drop out of the Top 10 and finish tied 11th at 4-under total, while Puig’s push to get inside the Top 24 in the season long standing and get into the Lock Zone was thwarted by his back-to-back 71s in the first two days. Puig finished tied 20th and dropped one place to No. 26.
Chacarra finished on 3-over and in tied 40th place.
STAT REVIEW
Field ranking in parentheses
Sergio Garcia (T2nd) 69-65-68-202
Fairways Hit - 27 (T8)
Driving Distance Avg. - 323.9 (36)
Greens in Regulation - 39 (T1)
Total Putts - 84 (T28)
Total Birdies - 11 (T19)
Abraham Ancer (T11th) 69-70-67-206
Fairways Hit - 25 (T12)
Driving Distance Avg. - 321.5 (T40)
Greens in Regulation - 35 (T9)
Total Putts - 83 (T19)
Total Birdies - 13 (T6)
David Puig (T20th) 71-71-67-20)
Fairways Hit - 21 (T36)
Driving Distance Avg. - 342.2 (10)
Greens in Regulation - 29 (T45)
Total Putts - 76 (4)
Total Birdies - 13 (T6)
Eugenio Chacarra (T40th) 70-71-72-213
Fairways Hit - 25 (T12)
Driving Distance Avg. - 338.4 (18)
Greens in Regulation - 33 (T12)
Total Putts - 89 (T49)
Total Birdies - 5 (T51)